How To Make A Dopero Kite

Complete Instructions For The MBK Skewer Dopero Kite

About the only tool required by these instructions on how to make a Dopero kite is a pair of sharp scissors. Any other materials you don't have are easily bought from local shops. If not exactly what I used, then at least something pretty similar!

These instructions for making a Dopero kite are fairly detailed, since this is the most involved construction project so far. Two vertical spars, two keels and a 4 point adjustable bridle! However, the reward is a really delightful little moderate wind flier. Just quickly work your way through from top to bottom, skimming over any detail that you don't need.

The MBK Skewer Dopero Kite is quite small at 29 cm in span, and even shorter in height. It flies best with a short tail looped between its vertical spars.

Could you do me a small favor at this point? Just take a few seconds to complete a very short survey. Thanks!

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How To Make A Dopero Kite - Materials

Lightweight sticky tape. Scotch tape, Sello-tape, sticking tape, whatever you like to call it. Just make sure it is about the width of your finger. The tape I use is 12mm (1/2 inch) in width.

Lightweight plastic bags. Here in Australia, the large sized freezer bags are perfect for small kites. These measure 30 x 45 cm (12 x 18 inches) I'm sure there are similar products in other parts of the world. For a kite this small, the lighter the plastic, the better. My originals are in clear freezer bag plastic, but you might prefer to use a colored plastic shopping bag in order to see the kite better! However, these instructions assume that you can see black marker pen marks through the plastic when it's lying on a table.

Bamboo BBQ skewers. The ones pictured are 30 cm (12 inches) in length, just a few dollars for a packet of 100. If yours are a different length, don't worry. These instructions don't rely on absolute measurements for the spars or sail material. You will still end up with a flyable kite.

3 kg (8 pound) or more flying line, for the bridle lines and tail attachment loops. These days I'm using 20 pound Dacron for flying line and bridling. You might use Nylon, Polyester or good old cotton.

Wood glue, such as Aquadhere. Good for tacking bits of bamboo together. 100 ml will last a long time when just used for making MBK kites. Don't ask me how much 100 ml is in quarts or US gallons... ;-) Ok, it's a small container that nearly disappears in an average-sized man's fist! If you prefer, and don't mind paying more, there are various quick-drying wood or general-purpose glues on the market that can also be used.

Now for a few extras you need to help with making a Dopero kite...

A felt-tipped black marking pen. Most of these should work on plastic. This is for marking corner points and cutting lines on the sail plastic.

A ruler. Any length or type will do, to make measurements and sometimes to rule lines. All MBK kites use straight lines to make things easier.

A pair of scissors. These are mainly for cutting around the outline of the sail. They are also handy for snipping bamboo skewers to length.

A calculator. Yes, a calculator of some sort, like on your mobile phone or the Windows one or whatever. But there's no heavy calculating to be done, it's just handy for getting some alignment marks in exactly the right spot, on the bamboo spars. In fact, right now, snip off the point from one of your skewers and measure the skewer. This is 'one skewer length'. Write this measurement down somewhere.

A smooth flat space to work on. If you are cutting the sail with a knife rather than scissors, you will need a smooth flat surface that can be sliced into without upsetting anyone else! So forget the 2-ton 17th Century polished oak table at your rich uncle's house...

A little tip regarding making marks on the bamboo spars - twirl the bamboo around in your fingers while making the mark, so the mark goes all the way around. This way, it doesn't matter how the spar sits, you can always see that mark!

How To Make A Dopero Kite - The Sails

1. lay a large freezer bag flat on the table
2. referring to the plan, make marks down the side of the bag, corresponding to where the sails cross the fold line
3. again referring to the plan, mark all the sail corners with dots, for one side of the kite
4. using the ruler and felt pen, draw straight lines between all the dots, as in the photo

Tip 1: Just use your eye to keep everything square - any small inaccuracies will be exactly the same on both sides, so it doesn't matter!

Tip 2: For neatness and accuracy you might like to make your dots much smaller than those in the photo - I just did it that way so they were easily visible on this web page!

1. flip the bag over, and draw over the top of all the lines you can see through the plastic
2. with scissors, cut off the edges of the bag so you can open it out and lay it flat, with all the lines on top - DON'T cut along the lines yet!
3. lay down sticky tape along all the lines, with the each line right in the middle of the tape as in the photo - use plenty of tape, don't worry about overlaps
4. with the scissors, carefully cut along all the black lines until you are left with 2 sails - just like on the plan

Each of the Dopero sails now has a neat rim of tape, reinforcing the edge. The tape's a bit hard to see in the photos, I know.

How To Make A Dopero Kite - Adding The Frame

1. cut 2 skewers to a length of 0.86 of the skewer length you wrote down (0.86xLength)- these are your vertical spars
2. lay down the 2 sails as per the plan and then lay down the 2 vertical spars, taping where indicated in red - to leave room to attach the tails, use just a little tape on the lower ends, as indicated in the photo
3. now cut the points off 2 more skewers, to your exact '1 skewer length' - these are your horizontal spars
4. mark around the center of one skewer - this will be your upper horizontal spar
5. lay down the 2 horizontal spars as per the plan, and tape where indicated on the photo

1. take a deep breath, put your thumb on the center mark of the upper spar and bend one end away from the table until it starts to make breaking noises - but don't snap it in half!
2. if necessary, repeat this with the other end as well, until the spar finally sits by itself at approximately the angle shown in the plan Front view
3. judging by eye, prop up the ends of the spar to about 15 or 20 degrees off the table, and weigh down the center of the bent spar with something
4. IF the upper horizontal spar is not quite touching the vertical spars, you will need to prop them up a bit - like I've done with those red pencils!
5. cut a length of bamboo 0.1 of a skewer length long, lay it beside the bend in the spar, and use a heavy pen to push it against the spar
6. as per the photo, drip glue where the 4 spars cross each other, and also lay a line of glue all along the bend

Hint: use plenty of glue on that center joint with the bend, it can be under a lot of stress when flying in strong wind...

Hey, it's starting to look like a Dopero kite! While this is drying, you can get on with the keels. (Was I a bit silly to use the scissors and marking pen as you can see in the photo? Doh! But I found other scissors and a marker so I could get on with the next bit...)

How To Make A Dopero Kite Keel

1. take a rectangle of some different colored plastic - I used a yellow shopping bag - and fold it over, firmly creased, with enough area to mark out a keel as per the dimensions on the plan
2. using the ruler and pen, mark out the keel triangle, flip the plastic over and draw over the lines showing through - just like you did for the sails
3. open out the plastic and cut along the lines
4. now cut down the crease line, which leaves you with the 2 keels

Take one of these plastic triangles, and...

Again, in this photo, pieces of tape are indicated by red rectangles.

1. snip off 8 pieces of flying line, each about 2/3 of a skewer length long - this gives plenty of length for putting all the knots in
2. lay down 2 lengths of flying line onto one side, like the keel on the left in the photo
3. tape down the lines, flip the keel over and tape down another 2 lengths of flying line, directly over the first 2
4. reinforce the keel on both sides by sticking down and wrapping more tape where indicated in red, in the photo
5. where the 4 pieces of line come together, tie a knot close to the plastic, then tie another one further out, as in the photo
6. where 2 pieces of line come together, tie a knot as close as you can to the plastic, as in the photo

Now, do it all again, on the other plastic triangle! When finished, the 2 keels are ready to be attached to the kite. Without them, the kite would need much more tail, with a corresponding decrease in performance.

How To Make A Dopero Kite - Sail Tethering

At this point you need to make sure the glue is dry on the frame. If it is...

1. lay down the kite with the bamboo on top, and cut 2 short lengths of flying line - about half a skewer length each
2. first, tape the lines to the lower sail near the tips - over the bamboo, around the sail edge and then back towards the bamboo - as in the photo
3. lay the lines across the upper sail and tape them down as in the photo

How To Make A Dopero Kite Bridle

Firstly, let's do the upper loop of the bridle.

1. with the sharp pointed end of a skewer, poke 4 holes in the sail near the upper horizontal spar, where indicated on the plan
2. lay the kite down with the plastic on top, then cut a length of flying line, about 3 skewers long
3. tie a simple knot into each end of the line, quite close to the ends, then tie another knot over each knot, to make them bigger
4. thread each end of the line through the holes and around the bamboo with a simple hitch - pull tight so the big knots slip through and jam right up against the plastic

Now to attach the keels...

1. poke 4 holes in the lower sail, near the lower horizontal spar, where indicated on the plan - right next to the tape, don't attempt to go through the tape
2. take one keel, poke the upper 2 lines through the holes near one vertical spar, pull tight against the knot, then tie them off around the bamboo
3. do the same on the other side, with the other keel - and make sure you have the keels on the correct side of the sail!
4. now poke the bottom 2 holes in the plastic for each keel, using the keels to find the exact spots for the holes
5. thread the lines, pull tight against the knots, and tie them off tightly around the bamboo

Next, do the lower loop of the bridle...

1. lay the kite down with the keels on top, then cut a length of flying line, about 3 skewers long
2. tie a small simple loop into each end of the line
3. now attach each end to the big keel line knots, with Larks Head knots - or forget the loops and just use a couple of simple hitches for each keel

The photo shows one side attached but not tightened, and the other side unattached.

Next, connect the upper and lower bridle lines with a single skewer length of line. Tie one end to the upper bridle loop with a triple-wrap slip knot, and tie the other end to the lower bridle loop, also using the triple-wrap slip knot. Using these knots lets you adjust the connecting line to the dead-center of both bridle loops.

The way I get it just right is to loop the connecting line over a finger and then lift the kite slowly off the table. Does one wing tip come up before the other? If so, the upper knot needs to be shifted slightly. With this fixed, does the kite still twist one way or the other, not lining up with the line lying across your finger? If so, the lower knot needs to be shifted.

Finally, take a length of flying line about half a skewer long, and tie one end to the connecting line with a Prussik knot. Tie a small simple overhand loop into the other end, just to get a nice big knot.

How To Make A Dopero Kite Tail

Making a tail for a simple kite is very easy. However, if you would like to copy my MBK Dopero kite design exactly, try the following. It works well and is just a little more interesting to make than long straight ribbons.

This tail is made from just one large freezer bag cut into rings about 3 cm (1 inch) wide. A tip... No need for perfectly straight lines here, just cut the plastic by eye with scissors. Start at the open end of the bag and cut it all into rings, throwing away the last bit.

The photo shows 3 rings looped together, with one knot pulled tight and the other one left loose to show you how it's done.

Loop rings together until you have a tail at least four times as long as the kite itself.

To attach the tail to the kite, just push one end between one vertical spar and the sail, at the lower end of the kite. Tie off with a simple hitch, not too tight since you might want to remove or change the tail later.

Now do the same on the other side of the kite, with the other end of the tail. This will leave the kite with a loop of tail from one vertical spar to the other, as in the photo.

At this point, you've pretty much finished learning how to make a Dopero kite!

Finally, make up a flying line. I keep things extremely basic with a simple winder made from a small rectangular piece of wood. A rounded file with fairly coarse grade will quickly create a curved cut-away on the top and bottom of the winder. About 50 meters (150 feet) of line is enough to give a new kite a good test fly.

Put a simple overhand loop into the end of the flying line, then attach it to the kite's bridle using a Lark's Head knot. Very simple, I've tried to make it clear in the photo. Doing it this way makes it easy to remove the line later.

Here's a picture of the original black plastic MBK Skewer Dopero kite in flight, soon after launch. A few seconds later, it was flying at a good steep line angle!

How To Make A Dopero Kite - Flying Tips

Before flying, just check the kite's balance, indoors. Take the flying line off the bridle first...

Hold the kite under its nose and tail, and suddenly take both hands away. Does the kite nose down and fly forward? If so, keep adding tape across the trailing edge of the sail. The kite should either float straight down to the floor or show only a very slight tendency to dive and move forward.

Assuming there is some breeze outside, just dangle the kite at arm's length until the wind catches it. As long as you feel the kite pulling, let out line slowly by letting it slip through your fingers.

Another approach is to get a helper to hold the kite up and let it go, with maybe 10 or 20 meters of line let out. This way, the kite soon gets high enough to make it easy to let more line out.

Have fun flying, and I hope you've enjoyed learning how to make a Dopero kite!

Last updated: 25 Jun 2008